Pathfinder [Versión Kindle]

I went into Pathfinder as a relative OSC novice. After having read Ender's Game just recently, I was excited to hear that a new Card book was coming out! It certainly did not disappoint. This is a complex look at the tried and true sci fi theme of time travel and time manipulation. We meet Rigg, a young boy who has recently lost the man he has always known as his father and is now off on a quest to discover his heritage. Along the way he picks up Umbo and Loaf, and together they head off to discover the secrets of Rigg's inheritance and his strange ability. At the beginning of each chapter, we also meet Ram, the only human astronaut awake aboard a ship full of sleeping humans off to colonize a new world. I must admit that I didn't figure out exactly how these two stories connected until about 200 pages in when a light bulb went off and I finally began to see some connections. These are all great characters and the author does quite a bit of world building by just letting us in on what is going on in their heads.

Rigg's relationship with his father and his then masterful handling of the political intrigue that he finds himself immersed in are a shining testament to the power of not merely education, but an education in critical thinking. Reading the character of Rigg is highly entertaining. His verbal sparring with bankers, politicians, and even his friends is so incredibly well written, it turns a book that is essentially driven by a scientific concept into a compelling page turner that I did not want to put down.

This is an adventure tale told in a fashion that will be a bit subtler than some teens are used to. There's plenty of excitement, interesting science concepts to ponder, and memorable moments to keep any sci fi fan reading away. My only fault, and it's a small one, is that the character's constant comments over how difficult the whole time travel thing was to understand got a bit tedious after awhile. The strength of this book lies in the intrigue and mystery surrounding Rigg, and it's this that in the end keeps the plot moving and the reader interested. A recommend for any sci fi fan, whether teen or adult.

Oh, and one final thing: the ending was incredible! I really hope there's a sequel!

Let me begin by saying that I am a huge Orson Scott Card (OSC) fan. I think OSC's work is as good as it gets when it comes to exploring ethical dilemmas and character development in the context of a hugely entertaining story.

By OSC's lofty standards, Pathfinder is pretty pedestrian and would probably deserve about three stars. However, if it is placed in the context of the work produced by the best active 20 SF writers, I think it deserves a solid four stars.

Pathfinder is aimed at a young audience. The sentence structures used in the first couple of chapters have been simplified. I can't comment on whether this carried forward throughout the book, since I became more engrossed in the story and stopped paying attention to the grammar. On the other hand, the vocabulary didn't seem to be restricted.

Some other reviewers have complained the book and/or the way time travel operated was so complicated as to detracted from the story. I did not find this to be the case. The way in which time travel paradoxes are resolved is not any more complicated than any other SF novel that features time travel and attempts to resolve those paradoxes. I also didn't find the way the two plot lines came together to be especially obscure. I thought it was pretty clear how they related to each other about 10-15% of the way into the book.

The good (in no particular order):

Pathfinder is an entertaining story. It is aimed at a juvenile audience but I would also recommend it for adults.

Character development is good by most standards but falls short of other OSC work.

There is some exploration of ethical dilemmas and human motivation (more below).

There is a completely new take on what time travel means and how time travel paradoxes are resolved.

The not so good (in no particular order):

The book ends with the protagonists out of immediate danger, but with none of the plot lines resolved. The novel won't be complete without the sequel(s).

Those that are looking for a self-consistent universe are going to be disappointed. For example, one of the protagonists has the ability to manipulate time in such a way that they can pass through solid objects, but they don't sink into the floor. This sort of thing normally bothers me a lot. However, in the case of Pathfinder, the important part of the story is the protagonists discovering how to manipulate and use their abilities and how they can be combined rather than building a reasonable basis for how the abilities work. Bottom line: I am surprised to find that the inconsistencies didn't bother me nearly as much as they normally do.

The ethical issue that is most thoroughly explored is the nature of friendship. However, it is not done very satisfactorily. The main protagonist consistently places his friends in danger without any apparent internal dilemma. Another protagonist is described as having a deep love for his wife, but has no internal struggle over leaving her, perhaps forever, to help someone he is not certain is his friend. Other ethical dilemmas such as the guidance vs. control of humans by artificial beings is set up, but is not in any way explored.

Bottom line: If you haven't read OSC, read his other work first (starting with Ender's Game and Speaker for the Dead). If you have already read them, you will find Pathfinder wanting by comparison, but still a good read. If you are looking for a juvenile book, Ender's Game is still a better choice.

First things first: this book is being marketed as a young adult fantasy novel. It is no such thing, though I see no reason why any young adult would not enjoy the book. PATHFINDER is science fiction, though at first glance it does appear to be a fantasy story. Orson Scott Card has a dual mastery of both the science fiction and fantasy genres--few authors can bring worlds to life like Card can, and it speaks to his strength as a storyteller that through the very different mechanics of worldbuilding in the two genres, he never struggles. You will find all the things in this novel that you find in many of Card's best books: a prodigy of a child hero, Rigg, too smart for his age; political intrigue with Rigg in the thick of it; heavy theoretical and philosophical conversations between characters, etc. The conversations in PATHFINDER often deal with the nature of time travel as it is possible in the realm of the story. Indeed, if the Shadow series was Card's political science series, the Ender series his first contact saga, or the Alvin Maker series his fantastic alternate history series, then this book begins his "time travel" series.

And boy does Card do time travel well. Slow to start, the world of this book envelopes you through its 600-some odd pages. I finished it three days ago, and my first reaction was, "Well, that wasn't Card's best work. But not a bad story at all." My brain has not left the wallfold, however, and my imagination continues to be captivated by the story of PATHFINDER. I absolutely cannot wait for the rest of this series to be released. It has been a very long time since I have been as excited about new work from Mr. Card as I am for the continuation of this series. PATHFINDER will grow on you, if you do not fall in love with it immediately.

Rigg, the main character of the story, is told by his father that there is "a perfectly logical explanation" for why he is able to see the paths of people's pasts. The story also follows other extraordinary human beings who have come to exist on the planet Garden, whose origins we discover with brief side-stories chapter by chapter in typical Card fashion. There is Umbo, who can speed up the perception and clarity of mind of anyone around him. When he does this to Rigg, it enables Rigg to pick out an individual path from the past until it becomes real to him, making the two boys able to change the past with their combined abilities. While they are the two focal points of the story, they are not the only special people in the world. There is a woman who can divert attention with a little "spell," and other characters with unnatural resistances to horror and mental pain that serves them well throughout the story. Rigg's sister, too, has perhaps a power more important than any others combined.

These are the elements of the story that make it seem like fantasy. A few of the powers, however, are explained through the course of the book as having a purely scientific origin, albeit a theoretical one. To be fair, I should not call the book pure science fiction. Perhaps it would be more accurate to say that it is theoretical physics fiction. Nothing in the book is ever explained off as magic, and the future books in the series can only flesh out the world in a more scientific, grounded way.

I say that it is no more a young adult novel than any of Card's other books because, simply, it is a very intelligent book. PATHFINDER is not heavy on action. Like many of Card's best books, it is the intrigue and mysteries of the plot that keep the reader going. The thoughts and conversations of the characters drive the story, and that is not typical of young adult books, which tend to be plot-driven instead of idea-driven like this story.

Perhaps it is the promise of the series as a whole, and not the individual merits of this first book, that has me most excited. Either way, I regret no part of reading PATHFINDER. If the remaining books in the trilogy (which are scheduled to be released sometime in 2011 and 2012 respectively) are up to par, this promises to be one of Card's best works. Orson Scott Card fans, don't miss out; if you are new to him, this isn't a bad place to start, though elements of this story have been done better in some of Card's other works.